Colours - Stamped Soaps

I had a few email requests as to what I had coloured the soaps with in the stamped soap pictures so I thought I would post about it.

The first one in the picture looks green/ grey... well, oddly enough this was supposed to be another lavender soap experiment. I thought why don't I try blue? I had only ever tried the Indigo powder in a salt soap. So I added a little indigo powder at trace, but as the oils were so yellowy, it turned greenish! It looks better in real life, more minty green. I have tried to repeat this same green colour in another soap (Aloe Vera) but no... once again controlling this natural colour alludes me...

The second soap has no added colour other than honey. It is a non-scented honey soap.

I achieved the pretty purple in the third soap with Ratanjot. It does not look this purple in real life (thank you photo!!) but it is still pretty nice. I infused Castor Oil with Ratanjot and add it at trace.

The fourth photo is of my white salt soap. There is no colour added to this. Salt soaps are fabulous to colour naturally as they seem to go vibrant colours. And the white is so easy. I simply, use the clearest oils possible such as Sweet Almond and the whitest butters like Coconut Oil (tons of it).

The fifth soap is my Orange Poppyseed soap. It is coloured with Annatto powder added both to the lye solution and at trace. I do have to mention that I will be toning it down slightly becuase there is a very slight yellowy/orangy tint to the suds on this soap and I really prefer really white suds.

The final soap here is my "Save a Dog" soap. It is a dog shampoo bar and with this soap, I am going to be collaborating with the local animal charity organization to help raise funds. They are overrun with dogs. As Spain has been devastated by the recession (we call it the Crisis here), so many foreigners have returned to their countries, many leaving dogs behind. I heard at some point that some days when the volunteers arrive at the shelter, there have been up to 5 dogs tied to the front door. So sad. I hope to help somehow. There is no added colour to this soap, just some white clay and I think the Citronella Essential oil has turned it a mild yellowy-creamy colour.

I also wanted to mention something about another experiment of mine. I have been trying to get my Essential Oil scents to stick better. One of my experiments has been with Orris Root. I have concluded that in my soaps, Orris root has not really helped with scent-staying-power and I have decided I do not want it in my soaps as it is rough and scratchy. I have found other things that have helped but not Orris root. So, I wanted to let you know out there in case you were wondering about Orris Root.

I am very close to launching the Naturalmente Mediterráneo blog with a few soap soaps offered. As it will take some time to get official, I will be going ahead and offering some of my products "un-oficially". This launch should be happening within the next few days.... I am pretty excited!